In the lead up to our 50th Jubilee we are profiling some of our former students. Today we are looking at Anjum Rahman from the class of 1983.

 

Anjum is the Project Lead of the Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono.  She is a chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience, working with a range of entities in the commercial, farming and not-for-profit sectors.

She also commits to various volunteer roles in the community.  She was a founding member of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, an organisation formed in 1990 to bring Muslim women together and represent their concerns, and is currently the media spokesperson. She has also been a founding member and trustee of Shama, Ethnic Women’s Trust, which supports ethnic minority women through its social work service, life-skills classes and community development. She has worked in the area of sexual violence prevention both as a volunteer and as part of Government working groups.  Anjum is a Trustee of Trust Waikato, a major funder in the Waikato Region.

Anjum has been an active member of the Waikato Interfaith Council for over a decade, a trustee of the Trust that governs Hamilton’s community access broadcaster, Free FM. She is a member of international committees dealing with violent extremist content online, being the co-chair of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network and a member of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum for Countering Terrorism.  

Anjum recalls, I arrived at Hillcrest High feeling reasonably damaged and insecure from my time in primary and intermediate. I was put into a class where I knew no-one, which allowed me a fresh start. While teenage years were difficult for all the usual reasons, being at Hillcrest High helped to shape my political awareness of historical and current issues in the world.  It taught me to care and take an interest, both in the history of colonisation in this country, and in injustices overseas. I’m grateful to the teachers who gave us the skills to explore these complex issues’.

Anjum will be speaking at the Gala Dinner on Saturday 25th June 2022. Join us for dinner, speakers and dancing MC’d by former student Jesse Mulligan. Jesse will be chatting with a variety of former Hillcrest High Alumni who will share their memories and experiences of Hillcrest High, but also what they’ve been up to since! Tickets and more information is available here.